You’ve probably seen photos of the Hindu festival Holi. It is also known as the festival of colours because people throw coloured powdered paint at each other. It is especially popular in India and Nepal. Now, more than thirty countries have their own version of Holi called the Color Run. This is a five-kilometer race in which people of all ages and backgrounds take up the tradition of throwing powdered paint.
JUST FOR FUN
The first Color Run took place in the US state of Arizona in early 2012. It was not a competitive event and instead focused on the fun of taking part. That year, about six hundred thousand participants took part in more than fifty Color Run events, mostly in the US. Last year, about 1.6 million participants took part in more than two hundred events all over the world.
ALL COLOuRS
The attraction of the race is that it celebrates simple things: health, happiness and giving back to the community by raising money for local charities. It is not real paint thrown, but cornstarch with food colouring in it, so it is very safe! To take part, Color Run participants must register online in advance, and attend the race wearing white clothes. At the end of each kilometre, volunteers cover runners in paint of different colours. At the finish line, runners get to throw paint, too!
A RAINBOW CANVAS
The Color Run is a worldwide phenomenon. Inspired by Holi, the Hindu festival of spring, this informal race, in which coloured powder paint is thrown over participants, breaks the rules of ordinary marathons! John Connors is the Color Run’s National Director of Events in the US. When he met with Speak Up, he told us that the Color Run was set up as a non-competitive, all-inclusive event that brought people together.
John Connors (American accent): That’s part of the magic of it, is that the Color Run is intended for everything from Olympic athletes and people training for marathons all the way down to someone who’s never run in a 5K before and never run before in their life and is getting into events. You can expect a lot of music. You can expect a lot of colour and powder and paint. You can expect a lot of people that are dancing. There’s [are] a lot of families, a lot of young people, a lot of smiling faces. You can expect just a good, fun, light-hearted morning.
HOLI SPIRIT
And, Connors went on to explain, while it is open to all beliefs, the Color Run shares the philosophy of Holi, the Hindu festival of spring:
John Connors: We take a lot of cues from the Holi festival. We use coloured powder as well, as they do. The spirit and philosophy of the Holi festival is really aligned with the spirit and philosophy of the Color Run, which is a way for us to come together and celebrate what we have in common more than what we have different. I think people want events that they can do with people they love. And since the Color Run is so accessible to people of all skill levels and all ages, it ends up being a great fit for families and for groups of friends and for large groups to get together and do things together. It’s a very inclusive event and I think people want a more inclusive world, so it fits well into that. [And] After you’re covered in powdered paint, everybody looks the same, regardless of the colour of your skin or your size or your height.
A GOOD CAUSE
An important feature of the run is that is raises money for local charities, he says:
John Connors: In each city, we have a partner charity and we work with that partner charity specifically to help us get our volunteer numbers that throw the powder on the side of the course. We have some charities that we have national partnerships with that we work with a lot from city to city, but most often, they reach out to us and say, “Your event is really intriguing to us, we think we have a number of volunteers that would make this really easy for us to be a part of.”
THE MAGIC OF RAIN
And nothing, not even the rain, can stop the runners, says Connors:
John Connors: That’s when you really see the magic of Color runners actually. I feel like almost the worse the weather gets, the more amazing the people get. And when you’re covered in rain already, all of a sudden all of your inhibitions go away and it becomes a really amazing party. What we always say is, “If it rains, then we’ll make a rainbow.”
